Internet traffic consists of traffic between two parties. When establishing an asymmetric connection between two hosts, the hosts will exchange their public key information. An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that confirms the identity of a website domain. To implement SSL on your website, you purchase an SSL certificate for your domain from…
In my previous article, I have talked about all that you need to know about network security. In this article, I will be talking about applications and their impacts on cryptography. Where can PKI be used by an enterprise? The following provides a shortlist of common uses of PKIs: SSL/TLS certificate-based peer authentication Secure…
The term “endpoint” is defined in various ways. For the purpose of this course, we can define endpoints as hosts on the network that can access or be accessed by other hosts on the network. This obviously includes computers and servers, however many other devices can also access the network. With the rapid growth…
Host-based personal firewalls are standalone software programs that control traffic entering or leaving a computer. Firewall apps are also available for Android phones and tablets. In this article, I want to talk about some of the facts that you need to know about host-based firewalls in cybersecurity. Host-based firewalls may use a set of…
In order to detect serious security incidents, it is important to understand, characterize, and analyze information about normal network functioning. Networks, servers, and hosts all exhibit typical behaviour for a given point in time. Network and device understanding network profiling in cybersecurity Care must be taken when capturing baseline data so that all normal…
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is a risk assessment tool that is designed to convey the common attributes and severity of vulnerabilities in computer hardware and software systems. The third revision, CVSS 3.0, is a vendor-neutral, industry-standard, open framework for weighting the risks of a vulnerability using a variety of metrics. These weights…
Risk management in cybersecurity involves the selection and specification of security controls for an organization. It is part of an ongoing organization-wide information security program that involves the management of the risk to the organization or to individuals associated with the operation of a system. The image is a diagram of the Risk Management Process….
An Information Security Management System (ISMS) consists of a management framework through which an organization identifies, analyzes, and addresses information security risks. ISMSs are not based on servers or security devices. Instead, an ISMS consists of a set of practices that are systematically applied by an organization to ensure continuous improvement in information security. ISMSs…
Various protocols that commonly appear on networks have features that make them of special interest in security monitoring. For example, Syslog and Network Time Protocol (NTP) are essential to the work of the cybersecurity analyst. In this article, I will be talking about how to use Syslog and NTP protocols effectively. The Syslog…
Many technologies and protocols can have impacts on security monitoring. Access Control Lists (ACLs) are among these technologies. ACLs can give a false sense of security if they are overly relied upon. ACLs, and packet filtering in general, are technologies that contribute to an evolving set of network security protections. The figure illustrates…
Alert data consists of messages generated by intrusion prevention systems (IPSs) or intrusion detection systems (IDSs) in response to traffic that violates a rule or matches the signature of a known exploit. A network IDS (NIDS), such as Snort, comes configured with rules for known exploits. Alerts are generated by Snort and are made readable…
As previously discussed, host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) run on individual hosts. HIDS not only detects intrusions but in the form of host-based firewalls, which can also prevent intrusion. This software creates logs and stores them on the host. This can make it difficult to get a view of what is happening on hosts in…
The tcpdump command-line tool is a very popular packet analyzer. It can display packet captures in real-time or write packet captures to a file. It captures detailed packet protocol and content data. Wireshark is a GUI built on tcpdump functionality. The structure of tcpdump captures varies depending on the protocol captured and the fields requested….
Use Of Security Onion As A Source Of Alerts Security Onion is an open-source suite of Network Security Monitoring (NSM) tools that run on an Ubuntu Linux distribution. Security Onion tools provide three core functions for the cybersecurity analyst: full packet capture and data types, network-based and host-based intrusion detection systems, and alert analyst…
The threat landscape is constantly changing as new vulnerabilities are discovered and new threats evolve. As a user and organizational needs change, so also does the attack surface. Threat actors have learned how to quickly vary the features of their exploits in order to evade detection. This article talks about alert evaluation in cybersecurity. It…
A typical network has a multitude of different logs to keep track of and most of those logs are in different formats. With huge amounts of disparate data, how is it possible to get an overview of network operations while also getting a sense of subtle anomalies or changes in the network? This article…
The primary duty of a cybersecurity analyst is the verification of security alerts. Depending on the organization, the tools used to do this will vary. For example, a ticketing system may be used to manage task assignments and documentation. In Security Onion, the first place that a cybersecurity analyst will go to verify alerts…
Now that you have investigated and identified valid alerts, what do you do with the evidence? The cybersecurity analyst will inevitably uncover evidence of criminal activity. In order to protect the organization and to prevent cybercrime, it is necessary to identify threat actors, report them to the appropriate authorities, and provide evidence to…
The Cyber Killer Chain was developed by Lockheed Martin to identify and prevent cyber intrusions. There are seven steps to the Cyber Kill Chain. Focusing on these steps helps analysts understand the techniques, tools, and procedures of threat actors. When responding to a security incident, the objective is to detect and stop the…
The Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis is made up of four parts, as shown in the figure. The model represents a security incident or event. In the Diamond Model, an event is a time-bound activity that is restricted to a specific step in which an adversary uses a capability over infrastructure to attack a…